Project Updates

We are very pleased to announce the completion of the Enhancing Reproductive Opportunity Research Project Final Report, which can now be accessed in full below. This report represents the culmination of four years of research funded by the Australian Research Council and UTS:Law. The project examined how laws and policies in all Australian states and territories have affected people’s decisions about their stored embryos created through IVF. The research drew on the experiences of over 400 past and present IVF patients across Australia in over 20 different clinical sites, and spanning more than two decades.

Each of the links below takes you to a chapter of the report. If you want a quick summary of our findings and a list of our 57 recommendations then click on the link to our Executive Summary. For a more detailed account of a specific issue just click on the relevant chapter links below. Each chapter of the Report addresses a particular focus:

11/8/2011 – Chief Investigator Jenni Millbank discusses some of our preliminary research findings and explores gaps and ambiguities in Australian ART regulation in an interview with Deb Cameron on ABC Radio 702 Sydney.

25/5/2011 -Chief Investigator Jenni Millbank reviews the different laws governing the posthumous use of gametes and embryos across Australia in an interview with Richard Aedy on Life Matters, ABC Radio National.

On 11 March 2011, the Enhancing Reproductive Opportunity Project hosted an interdisciplinary workshop on ART and reproductive opportunity with key experts from the UK, USA, NZ and Australia.

Key speakers included:

Emily Jackson, Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and Deputy Chair of the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (UK). Emily discussed some of the policy and regulatory challenges that are being confronted through HFEA’s community consultation on sperm and egg donation. Click here to download Professor Jackson’s presentation;

Richard Storrow, Professor of Law at the City University of New York. Richard presented on the legal hazards associated with cross-border reproductive care. Click here to download Professor Storrow’s presentation.

Ken Daniels, Adjunct Professor at the University of Canterbury and former Deputy Chair of the Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (NZ). Ken spoke on contemporary NZ policies on donor conception, in particular the on-donation of embryos created through donated gametes. Click here to download Ken’s presentation;

Jenni Millbank, Professor of Law at the University of Technology, Sydney. Jenni presented some of the Enhancing Reproductive Opportunity project’s preliminary findings. Click here to download Jenni’s presentation.

We were also privileged to have the following experts in the field join us:

The day was a real success, bringing together expertise from around the globe, establishing a future network for research collaboration, and providing an invaluable forum for us to test our preliminary research findings and suggestions for potential regulatory and practice changes! Thank you to all who were involved!